That silly. The Rockets knew when they drafted the guy that he had summer obligations in China. If they weren't willing to live with that, they shouldn't have drafted him. You talk about it as if representing China was some diversion. The motivation for letting Yao come to the NBA (which they really did not have to do) -- and likely a large part of Yao's motivation for coming -- was to become a better player for China. I'm sure there are people in China complaining right now (and with more justification) that Yao's training in the NBA is too much and it is wearing him out and he'll be too tired for the Olympics. For rest, what he really should be doing is not play an NBA game before January 1.
You can't build a championship team around a player who is only good in 4 minute spurts. This is the best Yao's stamina will ever be, this is it, the tops..... As long as we are built with Yao as the focal point on offense we will always be limited by his stamina, that is why I can not agree with trading our talent for more role specific players because when Yao is out we will have no chance to stay with teams because the talent level isn't there. Yao the role player Here is where I think he can most efficiently used, you put him alongside a superstar like Kobe or TMAC who can truly dominate whole games at a time and let Yao pick and choose his spots to take over and then it can be a deadly combination. Just make sure Yao is sufficiently backed up at all times like with Cato and let him get his within the flow of the game, let me reiterate, I do not think Yao can ever be a truly dominant, dump -it-down every possession post player like so many of the great centers of the past, his body simply won't allow it. Yao's schedule Trust me, 99.99999% of NBA players play year round and their schedules are no less grueling than his. Yao's limitations however are his own. You are right his biggest asset is also his biggest problem, his size. The solution The best possible solution for Rox management is to realize what it is exactly they have in Yao and to stop trying to make him into something he is not. He will never be able to take a team on his back and carry them to any kind of sustained success in the playoffs alone. Yao needs that player who can say slow it down big fella, sit back and watch me for awhile. You try to put Yao in the old Ewing or Hakeem role and I guarantee he will continue to break down at the end of the season. Taking advantage of other's misfortune There will be some very good players looking for change this offseason, players like Kobe and Tmac, these guys will be looking to get out of their current situations and their teams will be looking to get whatever they can for them. I would think an all-star caliber player going back in their direction would make them feel a whole lot better about losing one of these guys.
I think it is Yao teams' fault. They should advice him never say tired any more even yao is tired. It is at least improper for jvg to say it publicly. Next time when reporter asks whether yao is tired, the answer should be NO. Then the reporter may ask "why you had a bad game?", yao is easily answering as "well if i figured that out, i should not have answering that question". Anyway, jvg is not one of best coaches. He is lucky if he can win a ring on ride of ym.
"Trust me, 99.99999% of NBA players play year round and their schedules are no less grueling than his." Links please? "Taking advantage of other's misfortune" "The Enormous Dragon from the East Who's about to cry!!!!!!!!!!" Man you are sick. Can't help it.
If you were from Houston you could head down to Westside some summer day and you would see many NBAers there for many hours at a time and usually everyday playing ball. You're fooling yourself if you think most guys don't work just as hard as Yao does in the offseason. Yao's problem is not that he is doing so much more than the average NBAer it is that his body will not allow him to do as much as most players.
Just for the record, YAO did say he was tired in many occasions when interviewd. Did media make it up? No! But becasue he attracts a lot media coverage, so "Yao is tired" becomes a public noun. Should he say that in public? I don't have a problem with it as long as he doesn't use it as an excuse for his poor play. Was it right for JVG calling YAO out in public? Time will tell. As a manager myself, I'm a firm believer that you need to deal with each individual differently because different people react differently towards the same treatment! That's why I admire Phil Jackson's coaching tactics. You may not like the guy as a person, which I don't, but you have to admire him for the ways he handles different personalities. JVG doesn't strike me as someone who can do that.
Summer Song... i think you've posted a buncha B.s. about Yao whining. Don't give me that, we don't give a s!@$ about that "here." Where the hell do you live? B/c if you're attempting to represent the fact that you're from the U.S.; you're utterly wrong. Chinese media, babying him? Hrmmm... The guy's from China...I'd expect him to converse with the chinese media. Whine's to ref's? I'd be pissed too if I had Ref's as blind as they are in the NBA. It's just a matter of difficulty to referree a guy who is 7'6.... most of the calls will go the other way..b/c you always see the bigger guy as the culprit and the smaller as an underdog... Thought's of himself as the "chinese Jordan".. STFU.
From the translations of our fellow members, I remember Yao said he's sick and tired of the media which keep talking about him being tired. I also remember he told the posters on his bbs to stop asking him whether he is tired or not. When did Yao use tireness as an excuse?
Many interesting comments. In no particular order: - "110%" is cliched, silly, and irritating. Ed Harris said it in "The Right Stuff" and it's never left. It's right up there with "irregardless." Ugh. - Great Airplane reference. This thread is globbing together many, many related but distinct issues: 1. Is Yao's fatigue inevitable, given his body type? 2. With regards to Yao's training regimen, how much should the NT cooperate? 3. Should we have drafted Yao? 4. Is Yao whining? 5. If he is whining, does he do it more often than the average player? 6. Should Van Gundy be calling out Yao for whining? 7. Whose bears responsibility for Yao's fatigue? The trainers? The guards? NT? Yao? The refs? 8. Does Yao really train harder than some other players? If not, how come he's tired when the others aren't? 9. How should Yao spend his leisure time? In the hotel room? The gym? With strippers? 10.Should Yao be our franchise player? 11.Heh. And we have a new term: "JOF." That's good stuff. I'm sure I'm missing some topics, but you can see that there's a reason we'll all quibbling: somehow we're debating 10 things at once. Getting back to the heart of the thread, to me it boils down to this: Yes, Yao is fatigued. And yes, there are probably many understandable reasons that are beyond his control. (NT, his body type, etc.). No matter what, though, I don't want to hear him talk about it. I just don't. Yao is my favorite player, but complaining about fatigue helps no one. It doesn't intimidate his opponents. It doesn't rouse his fans. It doesn't inspire his teammates. There's no reason for it. Van Gundy realizes this, and he's telling Yao to stop. To me that's it. End of story.
I am fooling myself if I believe that you go to westside 24/7 with a timer for a whole summer. Links please?
2 observations 1. How long has it been since Yao has had a break from basketball, PERIOD -make note summer song giver, you are not true in your statements 2. Is crystal meth an option for the playoffs?
that is the point. in the battle for Yao's services the Rocks may well have to adopt a more flexible approach. adaptability may not be JVG's forte ... but good coaches find ways to make things work.
I remeber last season, Yao never mentioned the word "tired" until late in March. But before that, media and fans had been using that words MANY MANY times. And I also think Yao said quite a few times that fatigue is not the resason for his bad performance, at least earlier in this season. "fatigue-driven" slumps are most likely happen late in a season. It is coachs and trainers job to overcome it. If you don't rest your superstars occasionally, you should expect them to fade away towards the end. The way JVG runs this team is similar to how Baker run Cubs last year and you saw how Baker's duo Aces collapsed. I wasn't arguing about injury. All I wanted to say is JVG knows fatigue affects players' performance and that is why he is resting key players in the last two game. You can argue injuries being a reason, but injuries never stopped them playing. Yao said last summer that he would refuse to take part in those commercial matchs Chinese NT organizes. So he knew what to do. He is also taking care of his body, I believe. He is the only Rox who played every game in the last two seasons.
canoner: First, I'm glad to hear that about the commercial matches. I didn't know that. Good news. From what I've heard about the NT's training regimen, it sounds excessive for someone who's just played a full NBA season and is getting ready to play another. I hope they'll work on that too. I think Yao is learning that trying to please everyone will result in pleasing no one. I'm confident there's a happy medium. Everyone involved wants the same thing. It's a small quibble, but I really think you're wrong about last year. From the time he arrived in Houston he was jetlagged as hell. Every interview I read he made some allusion to fatigue. I'm not talking specifically about how that related to his performance -- just that he was generally tired all the time. Whenever anyone asked him how he was early last year, he said he was tired and it was hard to get used to the food. When they asked him what he did in his off time, he said video games and sleep. To be clear, I don't think Yao's whining and I haven't accused him of that. I just want him to have the most energy he can for crunch time just like every other Rockets fan and Yao fan (including YOF's, the NT and JVG).
::nods:: Yao mentioned fatigue on numerous occassions last year. I think Yao needs to start acting like a diva and lookout for number 1, otherwise he always gonna be caught in the middle and wind up playing himself out of the NBA in a few years after suffering numerous injuries from not taking a break
Right now I'm looking past EVERYTHING! I'm just excited the playoffs are finally here and it's not like JVG has some kind of grudge against Yao. This is not an issue to me
